What Are the Benefits of Linking to a Course Using OCI
- Luc Richard
Question
We came across a course in another organization’s learning environment, also powered by Dual Code, that we really like. We’re considering adding a course in our own learning environment and using the “URL” activity to link to that external course. Would this be the best approach?
Answer
The short answer is: No.
Using the URL activity to link to a course in another organization's learning environment can result in several complications.
Your staff will need to create an account in the third-party learning environment, meaning they’ll have to remember an additional username and password.
Although you may want them to use their work email address, you won’t have control over which email they choose to register with.
The external platform may offer multiple courses, and your staff might be unsure which course to select, potentially leading them to complete the wrong course.
If the course isn’t free, your staff may be prompted to pay, leading to reimbursement issues or needing to request a refund from the course provider.
If you’ve prepaid for the course, you’ll need to share a unique code with your staff. Without this code, they may either fail to register out of frustration or pay with their credit card and ask for reimbursement, even though you've already covered the cost.
Tracking your users' progress becomes challenging. You won’t have access to data on who enrolled, when they enrolled, or if they completed the course. You’ll need to rely on staff manually downloading and uploading proof of completion, which many might overlook.
The recommended solution is to use the “OCI Course” activity, which avoids all these issues. The OCI course activity will automatically:
Create an account in the third-party LMS using the same name and email address from your LMS.
Support single sign-on (SSO), so your staff won’t need to remember additional login credentials.
Enroll the user in the specific course you want them to take.
If you’ve prepaid, it will enroll users without prompting for payment or a code.
Automatically send the completion records to your LMS, so you can track progress without requiring users to provide proof.
Step-by-step Guide
Important Notes
If the procedure above does not work or you are having difficulty, please contact Dual Code via our Help Desk. We will gladly help you set it up.
If the 3rd party offering the course did not yet list it in the OCI Marketplace, please contact us via Help Desk. We will help them publish the course correctly.